On November 30, the first day of the conference, a “climate strike” was organized by students from more than 100 countries; more than 50,000 people participate. [60] On 10 June in Brussels, the European Commission presented a proposal for the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the European Union. Ségolène Royal, President of COP21, welcomed this decision (read the press release of the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Maritime Affairs). On 4 October 2016, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the EU`s ratification of the agreement. As of July 2020, the GCF had pledged $10.3 billion by 45 governments (including nine developing countries), $24.3 million by 3 regional governments, and $1.3 million by a municipal government. At the donor conference for the first replenishment of the GCF in October 2019, 27 countries pledged a total of $9.78 billion over the next four years, since then further commitments have been made. Almost half of these countries have doubled or doubled their commitments. The Austrian government`s €100 commitment in September 2020 enabled the GCF to reach the $10 billion mark. It will also enable the parties to progressively strengthen their contributions to the fight against climate change in order to achieve the long-term objectives of the agreement. In previous climate negotiations, countries agreed to define by 1 October 2015 the measures they intend to take under a global agreement.

These obligations are referred to as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs. [18] Together, inDCs would reduce global warming from about 4-5°C (by 2100) to 2.7°C and per capita emissions by 9% by 2030, while in the eyes of conference organizers, they offer hope for further reductions in the future that would achieve a 2°C target. [19] The Paris Agreement reaffirms industrialized countries` commitments under the UNFCCC; The COP decision accompanying the agreement extends the target of $100 billion per year until 2025 and calls for a new target that goes beyond that, “from a lower limit of” $100 billion per year. The agreement also broadens the donor base beyond developed countries by encouraging other countries to provide “voluntary” support. China, for example, pledged $3 billion in 2015 to help other developing countries. As host and president of COP21, France is committed to supporting a multilateral negotiation process and listening to all stakeholders to reach an agreement: the Paris Conference was the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as COP 21. The conference concluded a round of negotiations launched in 2011 in Durban, South Africa, with the aim of reaching a new legal agreement between national governments to strengthen the global response to climate change. A record 150 Heads of State and Government attended the opening day of the conference.

In September 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres convened a climate summit in New York to push countries towards higher ambitions in 2020. The world`s largest emitters have failed to develop substantial plans for major emission reductions, but 65 countries have expressed their intention to improve their NDCs by the end of 2020. With the creation of an “Alliance for Climate Ambition”, 66 countries have announced their intention to develop plans to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The conference negotiated the Paris Agreement, a global agreement to reduce climate change, the text of which represented a consensus of representatives of the 196 participating parties. [2] The agreement enters into force when at least 55 countries join, which together represents at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. [3] [4] [5] On 22 April 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries signed the agreement in New York [6] and began to adopt it in their own legal systems (by ratification, acceptance, approval or accession). The Paris Agreement sets out a number of binding procedural obligations. The Parties undertake to “prepare, communicate and maintain” successive NDCs; “pursue national mitigation measures” to achieve their NDCs; and report regularly on their emissions and progress in implementing their NDCs. The agreement also provides that each side`s successive NDC will represent “progress” beyond the previous one and “reflect its highest possible ambitions”. The completion of NDCs by a party is not a legally binding obligation. Developed countries have committed themselves under the UNFCCC to support mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries. Under the Copenhagen and Cancún Accords, developed countries committed to provide $100 billion a year in public and private financing to developing countries by 2020.

The Katowice Package, adopted at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in December 2018, contains common and detailed rules, procedures and guidelines that make the Paris Agreement operational. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, argued at the 5th annual Global Forum on Pensions, held on the sidelines of the COP21 summit, that institutional investors would eventually part ways with carbon-dependent companies if they could not respond to policy and regulatory efforts to stop climate change: “Every energy company in a pension fund`s portfolio needs to look at its future from a purely financial perspective. “Why is this [a company] that we want to keep for a period of five to 20 years?” If we continue to hold large energy companies that don`t have an answer to a basic financial test, we`re just playing. We have to take on a fiduciary responsibility – these are not good bets. [37] The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11, was held in Paris, France, from November 30 to December 12, 2015. This was the 21st annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol[1]. According to the Paris Summit Organizing Committee, the goal of the 2015 Conference was to reach a binding and universal climate agreement for the first time in more than 20 years of UN negotiations. [11] Pope Francis issued an encyclical entitled Laudato si`, which was partly intended to influence the conference. .